The fall of the bully

Twice in the past month football players have made nationals new after accusations of “bullying”.

The first instance came after Aledo High School’s football team beat Western Hills High School, 91-0. Aledo was a 7-0 stud team that averaged 69 points per game. Their head coach Tim Buchanan claimed he did everything short of taking a knee in that Texas-sized whooping. Western Hills parents said he encouraged his players to “bully” their kids by running up the score. One parent filed a complaint with the Aledo school board, which the principal, under law, had to investigate. There was no significant finding, but the story still made national news.

Then came along the Miami Dolphins scandal. Miami offensive tackle Jonathon Martin filed a lawsuit with the players association, and now the Dolphins entire organization is being investigated for bullying. Martin accused fellow lineman Richie Incognito of verbal assaults and obscene texts. The Dolphin’s dirty locker room talk is now being aired on the media laundry line. Martin and Incognito are out of football, as the team goes through the interrogation process.

The push to end bullying is a remarkable modern phenomenon. It is one of the many massive and misguided projects of the politically correct crowd. A 300-pound football player, who can undoubtedly bench over 400 pounds, is suing his teammate for bullying. It is a pc masterpiece.

Deeming someone a bully says more about the victim than it does the perpetrator. Sure we all know a self-absorbed jerk and an arrogant jock when we see one, but calling them a bully is the worst mistake you could make.

Western Hills did not get bullied they go beat, really badly. There is nothing wrong with getting beat, as long as you bounce back stronger. When you start calling a beating a bullying, you eliminate the lessons the loss could have taught you. You are hopeless. You surrendered your dignity. If Almedo High School purposefully ran up the score, that is simply a matter of sportsmanship and style. Ultimately, it should not matter to the kids at Western Hill.

The Dolphins players represent a fault line in our culture, a division that begins with the high school boys and carries on through adulthood. On one side you have barbarians, men like Incognito who are self-centered, obnoxious, lewd, and womanizers. On the other side you have Martin, a self-ordained victim who will rely on the state to administer a kind of justice that is not within the bounds of good government.

The solution is not with violence, as satisfying as that may seem. But a lawsuit won’t do either. Government is not a school principle or nanny that will boast your self-esteem. The only correct course of action is to strive, to leave the other guy in the dust. Western Hills will achieve their best if they view Almedo as handhold as they climb the wall of their own ambitions. Jonathon Martin was good enough to make the NFL. The best thing he could have down would be outwork Incognito. The Lawyers may get Martin a settlement, or hit the Dolphins with a fine, but true justice always waits for the right people